


The Sanctuary

by Flyin43



Category: Generator Rex
Genre: Blindness, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Major Character Injury, Mentions of unethical experimentaion, Trauma, mentions of torture, temporary disability
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-24
Updated: 2016-02-24
Packaged: 2018-05-23 01:17:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6100093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flyin43/pseuds/Flyin43
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Van Kleiss never thought he would find Rex willingly in Abysus again, however the circumstances of Rex's arrival are anything but ideal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Sanctuary

**Author's Note:**

> There are no descriptions of Torture or violence, but there are some details that can portray certain imagery. Please read with caution if you do not wish to see said imagery.
> 
> There is also no sexual situations or deep romance building. This story is focused elsewhere.

Rex was in his realm. He could recognize that boy anywhere from his nanites alone. They were chaotic, scrabbling for his attention and for sanctuary at the same time, although why they were seeking that from him he didn’t know. Why Rex was in Abysus in the first place was also a mystery, the teen had made it abundantly clear he wanted nothing to do with the Pack, especially now Circe had gone rogue. Van kleiss stood from his throne and walked down the cracked path towards the door. Rex was not far from the castle, which brought up another question as to how he had gotten so far in without being detected beforehand. The signal Van was getting from Rex’s nanites were disturbing and confusing. They spoke of death, terror, elation, delusion and safety, an unusual mix to say the least.

He found Rex by the main lake, curled up on the shore without a stitch of clothing on him. There was a small blood pool under his chest and a puddle of vomit in front of his face, his hair matted and sticky. Slashes of blood, someone else’s by the low amount of nanites coming from it, were all over his back and arms and there were distinct lines of bruising around his wrists, neck, thighs and ankles. There were more bruises along his upper back and hips, oval from being created with a large flat surface. He had clearly been shackled down to something and had struggled violently. The scent of sterile chemicals met Van’s nose as he drew close enough to see sweat beading on the back of Rex’s hands.

“Rex?” A pale face peered out from between shaking fingers, looking at him but not seeing him. Rex’s deep copper eyes were now a dull silver, chemical burns surrounding them. Van felt his stomach lurch. He remembered the first few days after the accident that had resulted in Rex’s abilities, when the nanites in his body went around destroying everything to rebuild it better. Rex had been blind for only a few days, but he had been terrified of his parents because they smelled of oil and metal like the prototype cleaning robot that had hurt him. Rex hadn’t even let Cesar near him, hiding out in Van’s office instead because he had a large potted fern and smelled of earth. He recalled how small hands had curled around his trouser leg whenever they went to the cafeteria, reached up to hold his hand when it was time to return to his room or had felt his face to recognize him. He hadn’t been particularly involved with Rex before that, finding children an unnecessary distraction to his work, but he found he couldn’t say no when Rex appeared later in the week with a football and asked him to play ‘soccer’. Cesar had been a little sour about that, but kept his tongue because Rex was happy.

Rex unfurled little by little, reaching in his direction weakly as the clear Y cut in his chest was revealed. It barely stopped at his lower navel and was held together by haphazardly placed surgical tape, several pieces stuck around it as if they missed. There was a wire sticking out the point where the Y joined together, blue and ripped from something, along with the handle of a pair of forceps at the bottom.  
“Van kleiss…” Rex’s voice was hoarse and wet, like he had screamed himself raw. Van knelt by him and let the weak fingers grip his trousers. His mouth tasted like copper and felt dry as ash.  
“What did they do to you Rex?” He carefully slid his arms under the shivering form, picking it up slowly so as not to jostle anything.  
“Cut out...stomach.” He felt like vomiting when he noticed Rex’s abdomen curved inwards.   
“Safe...Away…” He carried Rex into the castle, turning directly towards his laboratory.  
“We have to remove the foreign objects in you, and I do not keep a store of Anesthetic. I will have to physically knock you unconscious.” Rex chuckled softly, wheezing almost hysterically.  
“More...than they did.” Van walked faster.

 

******************************************************************************

 

Rex’s stomach had indeed been cut away completely, but there was signs it was growing back already. It would not be able to digest anything for quite some time however, no matter how quick the physical part regrew, because Rex’s body still produced the acid needed at it’s normal rate. This meant Rex would need to be on a nutrient drip permanently until the acid was back up to it’s correct levels, and would most likely be unable to walk as he would not have the energy. His eyes were also going to take some time. The aqueous humor had been polluted, and needed to be monitored regularly as Rex produced more until all the ammonia had been flushed out. Luckily Rex’s nanites would take care of the ammonia in his blood, as it was a poison they would viciously eradicate so he lived at peak functionality. He would need to be guided around, probably in a wheelchair, and helped to do even the basic things like use the lavatory. Rex would be completely dependant on whoever was willing to help him, unable to even leave his bed without someone to at least put the wheelchair near him.

Van had Breach out stealing all the equipment they would need for Rex’s long term care, along with a multitude of high grade painkillers and a literal car load of nutrient drip, while he put Rex in the cleanest room he knew of, his own not being on the list for all the roots he liked to sleep around. It was near the base of the castle with a large lattice window that still had most of it’s glass at the bottom. The door was only missing the top left corner too, and there were no holes in the floor or walls for Rex to fall through either. Van needed to fix the ceiling once Rex was in bed however, as there was absolutely nothing left of the original one. The room had survived well because it was technically in the sub levels, but it’s location in the hilltop the castle had been built upon gave it a view.

Breach had been a surprising but not unwelcome addition to Rex’s care team, which had Van himself as the only other member for the moment, when she had literally appeared from nowhere with Rex’s clothes and a bouncy red ball the size of the ones in tennis. She had put them on top the only not utterly rotted piece of furniture other than the bed and asked him what else they needed. She must of known Rex would probably be distressed if he discovered he was in Circe’s old room, as she ripped the poster for some gothic boy band off the wall before leaving. Van had cleaned the room of all other traces not long after.

 

*******************************************************************************

 

He could smell dirt and chlorophyll when he awoke, the steady ambience of heavy rainfall filtering through the fuzz in his brain. He felt light headed, as if he would float away if he moved too much, and he could only feel a little of his body. He opened his eyes to blackness, nothing moving or changing even when he kept them open so long they should have began to water. He blinked several times, feeling no cloth or hard surface covering them. He felt panic swirl in his chest, he had hoped the blindness was just from the smoke when he blew the amp pack up. His arms didn’t want to play ball when he tried to lift them so he could feel his face, barely twitching enough for him to know there was something in the back of his left hand. He could feel something cold travel up his arm periodically, warming as it went further into his bloodstream, and heard the steady beep of a heart monitor near his head. He frowned, certain his last memory had been hearing Van kleiss telling him to sleep.

“You’re in Abysus Rex. How much to you remember?” He jumped, having had no idea he wasn’t alone until Van spoke. He parted his dry lips and licked them, taking a shaky breath.   
“You carried me.” He rasped, throat sore and dry.  
“So you recall how you came to be here?” He nodded.  
“Drink”  
“I’m sorry Rex I can’t give you anything to consume until your stomach has refilled with gastric acid. The drip will keep you hydrated, try not to talk too much.” He groaned.  
“Yes you have a long road ahead of you. I estimate it will only take a week for your stomach to produce and regulate it’s acid normally again, but you will be on a liquid diet for several weeks after that to prevent any complications with the digestive process before you can eat normally again. Your eyes will need more time. The chemical used to blind you was ammonia, and it has eaten away at your sclera and anterior chamber into the aqueous humor. This has polluted it, and your body needs to flush it out before it can begin to repair your sight. I am uncertain how long the draining will take, or how long your sight will need once it begins to recover either.” He sighed in defeat. Whatever the scientists had wanted to do, they had crippled him for a time.

“For these reasons you will have to use a wheelchair for a while, especially until you can eat solid food again, and either myself or Breach will push you around when you feel the need to go out the room so you do not fall down any holes or crash into walls.” He felt his face crumple, and jumped when a large human hand stroked his hair.  
“I am sorry Rex, you will have little independence during the early stages of your recovery.” He moaned mournfully, shame and humiliation eating at him. He turned his face away, wanting to be alone for a while. Van got the hint and rustled as if he was standing.  
“I will take my leave. Activate your technopathy should you need me.”

 

*****************************************************************************

 

Other than the embarrassing toilet and washing instances, recovering in Abysus wasn’t as bad as he thought. Breach came by everyday between Van’s checkups with a novel she would read aloud to him, or a hand held puzzle he could solve with touch alone to keep him occupied. Van did his checkups four times a day, each time cleaning the IV tubing and helping him move his body so his muscles didn’t seize or waste away with atrophy. Each morning the nutrient bag was replaced with a full one, and each night Van gave him a shot of anesthetic so he wouldn’t have nightmares and thrash in his sleep. The week of no food passed quickly, and Breach took him out the room to the garden as celebration. He liked the feel of wind on his skin after 7 days of lying deathly still near constantly, the smell of gardenias and freesias a welcome change from the sterile cleanliness of his room. 

“Here we are Shiny, chicken broth.” He smiled as Brach helped him sit up and propped him up with an armada of pillows. The bed had gained a railing that was higher by his head after he had accidently rolled out of it once and ripped the IV port loose, so the pillows didn’t slide out from under him when they took his weight. He felt a spoon against his lips and he opened them, letting the warm broth pour into his mouth. It tasted divine after a week of nothing, savoury and filling even though it was literally just chicken juices and vitamin enhanced water. He swallowed spoonful after spoonful, until he heard the metal spoon clack inside an empty bowl. He licked his lips, pleased there was no dribble or mess on his chest.  
“Thats it, don’t want you being sick.” He hummed in appreciation and relaxed fully as the door opened and Van’s unique scent of wooden moth balls joined Breach’s light seaweed one.

“Ah you finished the whole bowl? Excellent, I had concerns you would not be able to handle so much this soon. You’ll receive another serving every 2 hours, giving your stomach ample time to digest properly, with the nutrient drip while you sleep for a week, then I believe we can start incorporating slightly thicker liquids. Would you like a walk through the garden?” He nodded, still not trusting his voice until he throat felt less clammy. Breach picked him up by his underarms and lowered him into the wheelchair, the metal clink behind him telling him Van was going to push him. He sighed and led back into the chair, letting Breach put his legs in the braces. He hummed a random tune as they left his room, passing Biowulf’s scent of oil and dog along the way.

“Master, I have found those you asked for.” They stopped and he knew Van had turned to speak to Biowulf as his voice was not so close.  
“Excellent. Have you brought them here?”  
“Yes Master, they are in the room with Larvae.” He heard a dark chuckle.  
“Wonderful choice. See they live, but are not comfortable. I will deal with them personally.” Rex raised his head as his chair was pushed again, making a questioning grunt.  
“Biowulf was tasked with hunting down the scientists who did this to you. As you heard, he has captured them and they await punishment as we speak.” He frowned, he wasn’t sure how he felt about that. On the one hand, they had tortured him. He still grew tense whenever Van pulled on surgical gloves and felt as if he was being examined when his room was silent for too long. He wanted some form of revenge or payment, justice for what they put him through. On the other hand, they had plucked him right from Providence, and could very well have been threatened into hurting him by whoever gave them access. He would get bad daydreams of Van kleiss ordering them to hurt him so it would drive him away from Providence, even though he knew the concern Van showed was genuine and Van still had no clue how Rex had escaped and gotten into Abysus in the first place. He waved his hand to get Van’s attention.

“Yes? You have some thoughts on them?” He swallowed and opened his mouth.  
“Information.” They came out into the throne room, distinguishable by the echo of Van’s footsteps.  
“You wish to know why they experimented on you?” He nodded.  
“Who let them?” His voice was softer than he remembered, but no longer raspy and sore.  
“Ah, I imagine you were in Providence before they took you?” He nodded.  
“Yes that does raise many questions. Very well, I will interrogate them thoroughly later.” He shook his head.  
“Maybe they were threatened. Didn’t do it on purpose?” He heard a chuckle and his hair was ruffled.  
“Always willing to give people a chance aren’t you? I shall find what exterior information I can on them before I question them, see if they have any family members at risk or have been reported missing. However, if I find no justifiable reason for following through with the experiments I will not show them mercy.” He nodded, not really caring how the scientists were treated if they had legitimately wanted to torture him. He would give them a chance, nothing more.

 

**********************************************************************************

 

Rex didn’t need the wheelchair by the time he was able to eat heavy foods like meat again, and Breach stole miles of metal poles to be used as railings throughout the castle and front courtyard so he could at least walk around mostly unassisted. Van gave him a stick with what felt like a spinning half-sphere on the end, guiding him through it’s uses so he could walk without bumping into things. He noticed that all the railings had metal panels, along the bottom at least, so his stick would touch them no matter where he was, and the hand bar was not the highest point of the railings either. He had stretched his hand up as high as he could once, only to not reach the top. He had chuckled, clearly whoever had built and placed them went overboard to make sure he could not fall into the many gaps in the floor. He enjoyed his new freedom immensely, often taking strolls up and down the many corridors just because he could. Van had said it was good, as it kept him exercised without putting unnecessary strain on his body.

He never got lost either. Abysus was full of EVOs who made noises at all hours of the day, and they rarely deviated. He knew he was in the west side if he heard the crackling of stones a felt a faint rumble beneath his feet, or the east side if birds screeched in the distance. He knew he was upstairs if he felt wind stronger than a breeze or underground if he smelt nitrogen being released from damp earth. The members of the pack not taking care of him tended to avoid him, out of fear for Van’s wrath or respect for him he did not know, but he hadn’t even heard Biowulf since the day the scientists had been captured.

It turned out one of the scientists had been forced into the experiment, her two youngest children held captive by the person who’d wanted Rex experimented on. She had been more than willing to tell Van everything she knew in exchange for their safety, and had sobbed openly in the main courtyard once the non-binary twins had called out to her. She left after several phone calls to what Rex believed to be her husband and numerous tearful apologies to him personally. According to Van they were moving back to her hometown in Russia, which was secluded enough that the likelihood of anyone finding them again was incredibly low. She had told them there were tapes of the experiment that had been sent to a P.O box in Chicago, hard copies in USB’s locked away as well as digital copies on the computer of whoever had stolen her children. They had apparently only contacted her via phone call and they had no samples of anyone’s voice for her to compare the caller to.

The other five scientists had been told they would get a once in a lifetime opportunity to see how a regenerating EVO worked, like the woman with the twins, but had accepted it without reservation. Four of them had seen Rex only as a subject, not caring for his pain so long as they got results. Van didn’t kill them, but he wouldn’t tell Rex what he had done to them either. His reasoning was that they were just the narrow minded kind of scientists, and there would never be a shortage of them so killing them off seemed a waste, especially if they could be ‘convinced’ into working for the Pack. Rex didn’t care so long as he never saw them again, nor them him.

The final scientist had enjoyed making Rex scream, which was all Van said on the man except how he had died painfully and slow. Rex felt a little dirty knowing he had basically condemned the man to death by torture, but it was overshadowed by both the relief and satisfaction that the people who hurt him had been punished. He found himself seeking Van out afterwards, feeling much safer in his presence now the older EVO had dealt with the threat for him without prompting. He would spend hours sitting in Van’s lab, to the point where Van had a chair especially put in for him, listening to the man ramble about nanite theory and machine enhancements. He even joined in when he understood them.

 

**********************************************************************************

 

The first night he asked to sleep without the anesthetic he had a nightmare so bad he woke up on the floor, panting harshly and sweating so much his night clothes were soaked. The acrid smell of urine met his nose and he realised with a sickening shame that he had wet the bed in his fright. He hugged himself for a moment, debating on whether to simply stay up for the rest of the night and get Breach to change it in the morning or go find Van. He shivered on the floor for a while, too hot and too ashamed to do anything until he stopped shaking.

Eventually, he got up, felt his way into the washroom, stripped and used some of the collected rainwater in the bucket outside the window to wash himself. He left his wet clothes in the tub, unable to take them down to the lake when it was dark as that was when the more dangerous EVOs went to drink. He used the rest of the water to soak them, dumping his bed sheets in too so they wouldn’t stain. He got dressed in another comfortable pair of loose pants and a t-shirt, tapping his feet gently across the floor until the soft fluff of the slipper boots Breach had gifted him met his feet. He slid them on and grabbed his stick, walking out his room and closing the door. He went down the hallway to the stairs and held onto the wall as he ascended them, going up two floors and turning right. He patted the wall gently, passing over the door that was Breach’s room, until he felt the knotted roots that covered the doorway into Van’s room. He flared his nanites a little, the spike waking Van enough for him to move the roots aside. He walked in and made his way around until he hit something wooden.

“You had a nightmare?” Van said, a little sluggishly. He nodded and blushed.  
“I...wet the bed...I put the sheets in to soak though?” Van shifted somewhere to his left and he felt the object he’d bumped into, It was a chest of draws.  
“Come here.” He searched over towards Van, flinching when Van’s human hand closed around his wrist and he was pulled down onto the bed. The blanket was pulled over him before he could flee and Van’s gauntlet held him into the flesh part of Van’s chest.  
“Better?” He smiled as he felt all his earlier fear leave, replaced with a warm security.  
“Yeah. Thanks.”

 

****************************************************************************************

 

He was sat on Van’s lap, listening to the man read out, and repeatedly scoff at, a book on Nanite theory and research by a Dr Brandon Moses. Dr moses was supposedly the leading researcher on Nanites outside of Providence, but Van believed that was only because nobody would count his research, Rylander hadn’t intended to publish any he’d done and Meecham didn’t want anything to do with it. It was quite funny to hear Van read out something, then immediately make a comment like ‘I cannot comprehend how your archaic mind conceived that idea’.

It was a complete shock when he suddenly found himself on the floor, something large and metal jutting out his chest and back. Van’s hand checked his pulse and pulled him upright.  
“Rex can you hear me?” He rubbed his head, he could of sworn he saw some sort of coding for a moment.  
“Yeah, I can hear you. What’s sticking out of me?”  
“Some sort of relay antenna, a bulky one. Can you release it?” He built his smack hands, which felt heavier than he remembered, and pulled the antenna off.  
“Well it doesn’t hurt...Do my smack hands look different?”  
“They seem a duller colour to usual, but otherwise no. What did you experience during your...vision?”  
“Vision? What vision?”  
“You became stiff as a board and fell off me with glowing white eyes for a few moments, building the antenna just before you snapped out of it.”

“Oh, so thats what it was. I saw a bunch of codes in my head, ones like my builds but...different. Its like there’s an outline in my mind, and this antenna thing fits in it.” A chilling thought hit him.  
“Could it be Providence? Are they trying to find me?”  
“Not unless my spy has double crossed me. Their efforts to find you have proved as fruitless as catching smoke with their bare hands.”   
“...You have a spy in Providence?”  
“How else do you think I knew to attack the Keep with you on board? I took advantage of his frustration at you ‘overshadowing’ him.” Rex frowned.  
“Great, another glory seeker...so if its not Providence, who could it be?” Van was silent for a while.

“Do you recall Rylander telling you about your brother?” He nodded.  
“He was nearly 10 years older than you, and had a flying portable laboratory. It would have survived the blast, yet I could not find it anywhere afterwards. All efforts to contact the radio within have been for naught, I could not even locate it. I was unwilling to write him off as dead, and now it seems I was right. He is the only one who could and would send you blueprints to a locator device. Although why he has waited until now is a mystery, even Rylander kept up with the news in his seclusion...Then again Cesar has always been odd.”  
“Odd how?” Van stood, helping him to his feet, and they started towards Van’s lab.  
“Impulsive with his projects, yet patient as a saint with you. Prone to vanish into his laboratory for days until your mother dragged him out by the ear, reprimanding him in fast flowing spanish. One could say he was scatter brained if he did not complete a project in it’s entirety even if he started smaller ones in the middle. He very rarely worked with others, and when he did it was not well. Rather typical of a genius really.” 

They entered Van’s lab, which always whirred with the power generator and smelled of old coffee, and he was ushered onto their own ‘homemade’ scanner.  
“I’m going to see if I can find any abnormalities in your nanites both when in and out of a vision, if I do we’ll work on finding Cesar before he sends you something monsteriously   
large for such a small job.”

 

************************************************************************

 

According to the signal Van had isolated and tracked, Cesar was in the arctic. Breach had gone to collect him, laboratory and all, and now something large and tall was stood outside the castle’s entrance. Rex heard a smooth buzz and felt the Pack tense around him. He was going to greet Cesar so the man didn’t think Rex was in danger and fly off the handle. There was a metallic, slightly hollow thunk and he heard Van sigh in aggravation.  
“You still have that heap of scrap Cesar? It was outdated five years ago!” The thunks came closer and closer until he could feel a large rounded body in his personal bubble.  
“Rex? Is that you?” Came a heavily spanish accented voice through a metal filter.  
“Depends. Are you my brother?” There was a swoosh and rounded metal fingers touched his face.

“Your eyes...What happened to you?” The voice was clearer now. He shrunk back a little, just enough to get the fingers off his face. He pulled his sweater up to hide his eyes.  
“Are you my brother or not?”  
“Yes Rex, its me Cesar. Don’t you remember me?”  
“No, but Van says you’re my older brother. It is Cesar, right Van?”   
“Yes Rex, it is him. You don’t appear to have aged a day Cesar, where have you been?”  
“Its a long story. Actually, short by my clock.” Rex let his sweater fall back into place as the big metal hands held his shoulders.  
“You’re so big now. And older. Ugh, atomic clock was right. A tona problema grande.”

“Cesar stop stalling. You owe Rex an explanation at the very least.” He was tugged into a cold chest.  
“He will get one, when he’s safe.” He slipped out of Cesar’s grasp and held his biceps as he backed into Van.  
“I’m safer here than anywhere. The people who blinded me are out there, and there are eyes looking for me everywhere.” He shivered, not ready to ever return to Providence even if they found the instigator of the experiment and brought them to justice. Van rubbed his back gently.  
“Calm down, you don’t have to tell him anything you do not wish to.” He nodded and let Biowulf stand between him and Cesar.  
“Explain, now. You won’t touch him until we know why you left him.” The second in command growled. Cesar made a curious noise.

“A talking robotic human and wolf hybrid?”  
“Do not get distracted Cesar, Rex needs answers if you’re to have anything to do with his life.”  
“Oh, right. When the reactor blew I was in my lab. The blast, probably the same one that wiped your memory, was so great it propelled me into orbit. I was stuck circling the earth in subdrive.” Rex felt his mouth drop open. Subdrive was half the speed of light.  
“How...long?”  
“15 minutes? Thats how long it took me to reset the systems and slow down, but at the speed I was going, it was five years of your time. I knew there had been an accident, but I had no idea how bad. My nanite readings were off the charts! I knew I could find you if I sent you the schematics for a beacon, and when the first signal went through I knew you were alive. Then the girl appeared and here we are.” He let his arms drop and he wished he could cry. He had an actual family member who thought of him first.  
“You started looking for me right away?” Cesar must of knelt because he was pulled into a hug where his head could rest on a shoulder.  
“Yes! You’re my Mijo, I would go to the ends of the Earth for you!” He chuckled.  
“You already did.” Cesar chortled.  
“Si, I guess so.”

 

****************************************************************************

 

Cesar was livid, furious, engulfed with rage. His mijo was blind and traumatized by a group of greedy scientists, and one terrified woman, because of someone’s sick plan. He wanted heads to roll, and since Van kleiss had dealt with the ones who physically hurt Rex, that left the ones who had invited them. He tempered his anger around Rex, his little brother deserved more than just ranting about vengeance, but his mind was already forming ways to hack this ‘Providence’ and forcibly remove the instigators from it’s midst. Van must of noticed, as he was given a smirk and a little nod of the head over Rex’s shoulder.

“Here’s my room, its where I’ve been spending most of my time since coming here.” He looked around, noticing a few damp stains around the tops of the walls and that the ceiling seemed made entirely out of spot welded metal panels. The bed was hip high and had a railing on the side not against a wall, the sheets fresh and clean, with a recently washed rug by it so Rex didn’t have to put his bare foot on the cold or damaged concrete floor. There was a mosquito net tucked up around the top, ready to be pulled down when needed, and a rail along every wall at Rex’s hand height.  
“They really have been taking care of you?” Rex smiled softly.  
“As best they can. We can’t really help the water situation, and there’s no heating or electricity anywhere except the generator in Van’s lab, and even that struggles.”  
“Water situation?” Rex went into the bathroom and came back with a bucket of rainwater.  
“Van makes it rain three times a day so it’s only ever a few hours old, but it’s still just rainwater. we have to purify it first and that takes a few days. There’s always some going so we don’t run out.”

The plans for revenge came to a grinding halt, stored away to be worked on at a more convenient time. Rex needed a clean water supply and power to the castle, and those were things Cesar could help him with. He slipped his arms around Rex’s midriff, hugging him from behind.  
“I’m so sorry, I should’ve been here to protect you.” Rex chuckled and turned around to embrace him back.  
“Usually I can protect myself just fine, but thankyou. Besides, you came as soon as you could, thats enough for me.”

 

******************************************************************************

 

Cesar had a water filtration system set up within a week, connected to the vast lake outside, and had even started setting up wind turbines a few miles out of the castle for electricity. Van could make the wind move them as much as he wanted, which meant they wouldn’t run out of power even if Cesar wasn’t focusing on a variation on lunar and solar panels that would work with Abysus’s corrupted sky. Rex had a feeling Cesar was going overboard on his little brother’s comfort to ‘make up’ for not being around, just like Van had gone overboard with the railings everywhere. There was even railings going down to a platform over the shallow part of the lake for him now. He couldn’t bring himself to reprimand them though. He didn’t feel like he was being patronized or babied, they let him keep as much independence as possible while making Abysus the haven Van had claimed it was nearly a year ago.

 

******************************************************************************************

 

“Hey Cesar when’s my birthday?”  
“18th of November. You will turn 17.” He blinked  
“17? I thought I was 15 right now…”  
“You were born in 1993, after giving Mama a false alarm everyday for a week before hand, and you were 6 weeks early. You were one of the healthiest premature babies the doctors had ever seen, Mama joked we should of called you Bo instead of Rex.” Cesar chuckled.   
“Whats the date today? I can’t exactly keep track.”  
“I don’t know without checking the atomic clock in my lab. Do you have a friend who’s birthday is coming up?” He shook his head, then something clicked in his head.

“OH SHIT! NOAH!” He rushed to find Van, Cesar soon running up behind him.  
“Who is Noah?” Rex rubbed his eyes, a nervous habit he hadn’t realised he’d picked up until Breach pointed it out to him.  
“He’s my friend, my best and first friend. When I went MIA his place is the first they would look, so he knows I’ve gone missing. I usually stay in contact with him but I completely forgot! Oh man he’s going to be so mad.” They entered Van’s lab, only to both be swept into the bean bags Rex had upgraded the chairs to after he discovered Cesar had a habit of debating theory with Van until the small hours. Something small with claws rattled inside a closed metal container.

“Just a moment.” There was a fizzle and Rex smelled smoke before the rattling stopped.  
“There. Now, what has you in such a flurry Rex?” Cesar started to haul himself out of the beanbag, if his frustrated grunts were anything to go by.  
“Noah, He knows I’m missing from Providence but I haven’t been talking to him to let him know I’m alive. I...I want to see him...no pun intended.” Cesar was pulled from the beanbag in a rush of movement, his wobbly yelps a sign he hadn’t been expecting it and was off balance. Van’s human hand pulled Rex up much more gently, not letting go until Rex was well and truly on his feet.  
“It can be arranged, however I must stress that he may react...poorly to your current living arrangements. I would suggest sending him a message through whatever means you usually contact him, Breach will assist you if need be, and establish a neutral meeting grounds before accepting or inviting anything.” Rex nodded, mind already halfway gone with ideas on how to explain the blindness without getting too gory and triggering a possible flashback, or what he would say to convince Noah Van was caring for Rex.

 

******************************************************************************

 

The blonde had sounded damn near catatonic on the other end of the burn phone. He had barely let Rex finish saying hello before he was firing question after question, most repeats of ‘are you okay’ and ‘where the hell are you’. Rex sighed happily and put on the most calming voice he had, Noah would notice the change in his usual speech anyway.  
“I’m safe and alive Noah, and I’m somewhere I’m happy at. I can’t tell you more over the phone just incase though. Can you get to the diner we went to after Basic?”  
“The one in San francisco? Yeah, but it’ll take a few hours and I have to get my parents to let me go.”  
“What time is it there?”  
“10am. Wait are you saying you’re not in America!?” Rex hummed. Noah really was too smart to miss something like that.  
“Yeah, I’m not in the US, but I can get to the needle in no time. When will you get there?”  
“Well my Dad is nodding at me with his thumbs up so I’m going as soon as I have my stuff. Maybe by 3pm?” Rex released a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding.  
“Yeah. Okay. I’ll see you then alright? And uh...try not to freak too much when you see me? It’s...complicated.” He put the phone down before Noah could ask him what he meant. He felt Cesar’s hand on his shoulder.  
“Do you want me to come with you?” He put his own over it.  
“No, Noah doesn’t know you and...I think he needs to see just me.” Cesar rubbed his upper back.  
“Okay, but I would like you to take a tracker so you can call us if something happens okay?” He nodded, knowing Van would probably send someone to keep close to him anyway.

 

**********************************************************************

 

Noah actually arrived early, since the waiter at the door knew to look out for him. He had to suffer through the man being too helpful, holding him by the arm to lead him through the tables like he was an invalid. This made breaking the news to Noah gently impossible, it was hard to miss him wearing blackout glasses and rolling a blind stick around on the floor. He heard Noah get up and had the impression Noah wanted to help him sit but had seen how uncomfortable he was with the waiter.  
“I’m fine Noah, I didn’t turn blind yesterday.” Noah sat back down with a sheepish silence as Rex patted the chair for anything that shouldn’t of been on it. Satisfied there was only a cushion on the seat, he sat down and lent his stick against the table. He reached for the middle and found laminated sheets, only to discover they were smooth. He blushed.

“Oh...Could you um...read the drinks out?”  
“What? Oh! Uh sure…” There was a fumbling and warped flapping before Noah cleared his throat.  
“There Soda, coke, apple juice, coffee, hot chocolate and Tea.” Rex fished around in his pocket for the 20 dollar bill Van had given him. He held it out to Noah.  
“Can you get me a Coke please? Buy yourself a drink with it too.” Noah took the bill and got up.  
“I’ll be back in a sec. You want a straw?” He nodded, not wishing to make a scene by spilling his drink down his front with how hard he was starting to shake. He was nervous and vulnerable and he didn’t like it. He hadn’t been alone in a room of strangers for a while, and it was the first time he’d felt so weak in one. His blindness made him unable to see any incoming attacks, having to rely on his hearing and he couldn’t tell what was a rustle of someone going to hit him or somebody simply sitting down. The diner was cramped and noisy and he had no defences in it. He really should’ve picked somewhere less public.

Eventually he heard Noah sit down and there was a clink as a full glass was put in front of him. He felt gently along the table until he reached a base and gripped it with both hands, pulling it forward until the straw touched his lips. He drank some to calm him down.  
“So...How did…?” He licked his suddenly too dry lips.  
“Ammonia. I was...captured by a couple of scientists and they uh...experimented on me.” He said quietly, worried that other people would hear and then he’d get either pitied or disgusted looks. Noah was silent.

“They experimented on you?...How did they even capture you?”  
“I don’t know. One minute I was walking down a hallway in Providence and the next I’m staring at a ceiling in one of the operating rooms. I think they drugged me, Everything is kinda...wobbly.”  
“Wait you woke up? Did they...Did they do this while you were awake?” Noah whispered, leaning in close. Rex nodded and he heard Noah fall back into shocked silence. He sipped some more coke.  
“Dude...I...No wonder you left. This happened in Providence?”  
“Maybe? I mean they took me from there, but I was already blind when I escaped so I didn’t see where I broke out from.”  
“Why would they…? I mean, did they just make you blind or…?” Rex swallowed.  
“They were going to take out my organs and see if I could regrow them.” He heard Noah slap a hand to his mouth and winced.  
“I can! I’m fine now, except for my eyes. I just can’t go back to Providence. Even if the person behind it isn’t a member, they know how to get in. Its…” He rubbed his biceps.  
“Its not safe there.” Noah swallowed something and he heard a retch.

“And you are now?” The blonde said a little shakily.  
“What? Safe? Yeah. The people who’ve been helping my have railings everywhere so I don’t fall down anything and they gave me this so I don’t bump into stuff.” He held up his stick.  
“They kept me alive and comfortable while I regrew the things that were cut out too.”  
“So you’ve been in a hospital somewhere?”  
“Don’t you think Providence would of found me by now if I was? I’ve been living somewhere away from the media...and cameras.” He suddenly remembered that all public places had cameras now in case of EVO attacks, which meant Providence could be watching him at that very moment and have sent someone to collect him.  
“Shit shit shit…” Noah made a squeak and he knew he had been right.

“I swear I didn’t know they were coming.” Noah whispered desperately, holding Rex’s head down. Rex fumbled for the tracker hanging around his neck.  
“I know, I know. They can see the cameras in here. I have to go, I can’t go back I just can’t” He was panicking again, his fingers missing the button to signal Breach.  
“What are we gonna do?” Rex shook his head.  
“Breach is gonna come get me, I just need to press this damn button!”   
“Breach!?” He heard movement of feet moving faster and Noah swore for the first time since Rex had known him. Rex’s thumb finally pushed the button and within moments he felt her presence. The tell-tale screech came from beside him, where the footsteps had come from, and he felt big hands wrap around his shoulders.

“Rex!” He froze up at the sound of Six’s voice, of course he had come.  
“I’m here Shiny.” Breach shook him and he snapped out of it. Six would have to find out some other way.  
“Sorry Noah, It was good to see you again.” He dived into the portal, landing on cold, hard, familiar ground and curling up. Breach’s portal closed a few seconds later, a clatter telling him his stick had been dropped, and he was pulled into her lap. He gripped fistfulls of her shirt as she rocked him, humming a tune he didn’t recognize. He was shaking, his mind going haywire at the close call and dredging up images of being lost in HQ’s hallways, pushed around by grunts because he couldn’t keep up with the crowds. Breach stroked his hair.

“The blonde one will tell the green one. He’ll have to. I can go get him?” He shook his head.  
“N...Noah has a life. T-Tell him its okay to tell S-six.” He was stuttering, something he hadn’t done before, and felt as if Six was going to pop out at any second and rip Breach away from him. He hadn’t felt unsafe at Abysus for a while either. Another portal opened, a small one by the sounds of it, and he heard screaming.  
“Noah Rex says its okay to tell Six.” Breach closed the portal just as Six started talking.  
“Tell Six what?” He whimpered and buried his face in Breach’s chest, not even caring that he was technically in her breasts. He shuddered through tearless sobs, his eyes not able to produce the saline to cry. Breach didn’t say anything, just sitting and cuddling him the whole time.

 

*******************************************************************************

 

He felt guilty when a call came from the burn phone that Breach said was not under Noah’s name. He didn’t pick up, terrified it would be Six or White or worse still Holiday. He didn’t want to think about the people who had mostly raised him in his memory being pitious towards him. He knew them too well to think they wouldn’t do or say something wrong when they were just trying to help. Well, Six and Holiday would be trying to help, White would just tell him straight that he was practically useless until he could see again and maybe grill him on the identities of the scientists who’d tortured him. Rex found that thought to be quite comforting actually, White probably wouldn’t care where he was while he was nothing more than a liability. 

It was Holiday and Six that would be the problem. They cared about him, so by extension they would see him needing them a little more than usual as needing them to do everything. He still had to remind Cesar and Van not to guide him anywhere unless he asked on occasion, and they knew how well he was doing. Holiday especially would set up some kind of aid, even for using the bathroom, because she would genuinely believe Rex was an invalid without his sight. Six wouldn’t be quite so extreme, but his protectiveness would go through the roof and Rex would never have a moment alone again. Even once he was better they would still be smothering and overbearing. He didn’t think he could handle that.

The calls continued hourly for 2 days until finally Breach answered for him with a curt ‘Fuck off’ and threw the phone in the lake. He would probably wish she hadn’t destroyed it later, but he was enjoying the peace for the moment. Breach had gotten a lot more involved with him since meeting Noah too. They were friends before, but something had changed. He would seek her out when he was having a bad day and just sitting and listening while she talked about random disjointed things soothed him. She would find him and press something she had found into his palm, asking him if it felt right. He just knew she was talking about her special place, her pocket dimension, so he answered her truthfully every time. If he said no he’d hear her throwing it away, and if he said yes she’d open a portal and pull him through it. It was ironic really, how he had destroyed her safe place and was now helping her rebuild because she had let him in.

 

******************************************************************************

 

There was an oval of grey in his vision. He closed his eyes and it vanished, but reappeared when he opened them again. It moved with him when he moved, and swept around in the direction he turned his eyes. He started hyperventilating, his nanites going wild and ecstatic to mirror him. His sight was starting to come back. He still couldn’t see what was going on around him, but he no longer saw utter blackness either. It was a sign he was getting better. He rolled out of bed with a hysterical sob, he had been so sure he would never see again. Two pairs of feet thundered down the corridor to his room and one of Breach’s large portals opened next to him. He got onto his knees, waving his hand in front of his face and gasping with delight when he saw a large shadow move in time with it.

“Shiny?” He looked up.  
“I can see my hand moving…” He whispered, still awestruck and starting to feel as if he was in a dream. His door burst open.  
“Rex!?” Cesar’s lighter frame landed next to him and he felt both Van’s hands on him shoulders.  
“I can see my hand moving.” He repeated, waving said hand again and following it with his head until he moved it too far away and lost it. Breach ran a hand through his hair and hummed her tune again.  
“You can see it?” Cesar held him about the waist, pulling him into his big brother’s lap. He nodded, a grin so wide it hurt on his face. If he could cry he would be from joy.  
“How well can you see it? Is there colour? Are things too bright?”   
“Give him a moment Van, This is wonderful news!” Rex laughed and yanked Van down by the massive shadow that was in his limited vision to hug both the adults.  
“I can see things again! I’m finally getting better!”

 

****************************************************************************************

 

Van watched as Rex reached for a mug of hot chocolate and only missed once. His eyes were repairing at an accelerated rate now his nanites had nothing else to focus on and he was able to see blurry images within a week of his first sight since the experiment. He was still completely colourblind for the moment, but Van was certain that would pass once he could see in detail again. Colours were not as important as detail to the mind, so of course they would be fixed last. Rex’s demeanor had improved drastically as well. He was much more outgoing again, willingly following Breach through a portal to wherever she wanted to take him.

Van was not altogether happy about the situation. With Rex fully healed there was no reason for him to stay, he could go wherever he wanted. Van could always force him to stay, but after having Rex willingly go about Abysus for nearly 8 months he wasn’t sure he could stand to see the boy caged. Rex was like a bird, he could flap his wings in a cage but he would only fly when free. Van wanted him to fly, so he was not going to break Rex’s trust and cage him. It was selfish, he supposed, to want Rex to keep seeing Abysus as a place of home. The dreary castle seemed brighter and warmer with him in it, even before Cesar came along and made it physically brighter and warmer, and he felt gloomy when he remembered the days before Rex had crashed in. Abysus had changed, Van had changed. He didn’t want to go back.

 

*****************************************************************************

 

“Wow…” Breach smiled as the pale petals swirled around her.  
“Its spring here. The sakura trees are always so pretty…” Rex watched as literal clouds of petals flew over and between them. He couldn’t see their colours yet, but he knew sakura trees were varying shades of pink and red so he could imagine what it looked like. To him they were drops of white against a pale blue sky, the occasional dash of dark brown from some other tree joining them. He had what Van and Cesar called Protanopia, where his eye’s filter for red light was not functioning yet. He could see blue perfectly, and yellow was incredibly vibrant, but anything with red in it was a different colour to him than them. Anything that had more green in it than turquoise was brown, red and it’s diminutives were just varying shades of grey or white, purple came out as just blue and orange was just yellow. It was strange, and actually quite fascinating to see things he knew were one colour but he saw as another. It was like the world’s wackiest filter.

“Did you grow up here? In Japan I mean.” Breach nodded and pointed towards the north west. They were on an island close to the mainland called Shikoku  
“In Hiroshima. It’s sad and happy there. Everyone remembers the ghosts, and everyone forgets them too.” Breach leaned against him.  
“I used to wish I was a ghost...and now I am.” He wrapped his arms around her. She barely reached his shoulders, so he had to stoop a little but he didn’t mind.  
“Not to me. Why did you want to be a ghost?”  
“Like you wanted to be a bird, flying away and away. I wanted to disappear.” He started stroking her hair when she started to shake.  
“I made them disappear instead.” She said flatly. Rex had a feeling she was talking about her parents.  
“What were they like?”  
“Busy. Always busy. I want this, I want that. Want want want.” Breach fell silent and a portal sprung up above them.  
“I’m bored of here now.” He looked over to the mainland again.  
“Yeah, me too.”

 

*******************************************************************************

 

“You wear green?...You’d look better in blue.” Cesar looked up from his microscope. The bacteria collected from Abysus’s lake was reacting in a fascinating manner with the Uranium irradiated nanites he had injected it with.  
“Que? I thought you saw brown?”  
“No, it’s green now, but the pen you’re holding is brown.” He looked down at said pen, it was red.  
“Oh. Your red filter must be regenerating at last. I wear green when I’m working because it’s easy to clean.” He went back to the microscope. A non-mutating cell split into two halves, one of which began splitting again but the other stayed intact.  
“Hmm…”  
“You don’t have any other clothes do you?” He wrote down the occurrence.  
“Just work clothes for now. My lab was not for living in.” Rex sighed and he felt a tug on his arm.  
“Well come on then Bro! I haven’t worn any of my own clothes in 9 months! We need to get some new threads!” Cesar frowned as he was pulled away from his bench.  
“How will threads help us? Are we going to sew?” Rex just laughed and pulled him out the door.

 

********************************************************************************

 

“See? Sneakers are way more comfortable.”  
“But why are the called sneakers if they squeak on the floor?” Said a spanish accented voice.  
“Thats only on floors like this. On concrete they don’t make any noise.”  
“I still do not understand where the name comes from.” There was a familiar laugh.  
“You don’t have to Cesar, they’re shoes. Just like you don’t have to understand why mangos taste sweet and smooth.”  
“I do understand why mangos taste like that. They’re my favourite fruit.” There was a mock aggravated sigh.  
“You don’t have to know everything to enjoy something Cesar, seriously. I’ve been fine, and I barely understand anything.”  
“You’re better at math than me and Van, you know more about biology now than any ‘professor’ at a government funded university and you know how people mostly behave based on their body language.” The voice said matter-of-factly.  
“Goddamnit Cesar.” 

Six rounded the corner of the shopping complex Rex had been spotted in and slipped between the crowd to a wall where he could see his charge. Rex sat at a table with a man who looked uncannily like him, but with higher cheekbones and upswept hair, eating fries leisurely. He looked healthy, his skin neither too flushed or too pale and his hair shone with life. His eyes were a little less vibrant than Six remembered, but the small splash scars around them reminded him they had been without any colour for a while. It was obvious Rex could see again, he didn’t have his stick or blackout glasses and he didn’t have trouble picking anything up or reading out the menu for another drink. There were paper bags surrounding the duo, most from well known stores.

“I think we should go to the soap place next, I want to get Breach something.” The man, who Six recalled was named Cesar, chuckled.  
“Oh? Do I have to give a ‘birds, bees and EVOs’ talk?” Rex blushed and shook his head.  
“Nope! Please don’t, Holiday already gave me one but with machines.” Cesar laughed in three gasps of air, his whole body moving with them.   
“Okay mijo, no talks. But you and Breach hmm?” Rex hid his face in the menu.  
“We’re not actually...anything.”  
“Yet? You want it to be, yes?” Rex hesitated, then nodded minutely. Six felt a frown cover his face. Breach was, in Rex’s own terms, ‘creepy’. What could possibly have changed between them so drastically? Rex had been traumatized, that was undeniable, but surely Breach’s unstable mentality had only worsened that?

“I do not think she will care much for soap...or perfume...maybe chocolate?” Rex shook his head.  
“No, I want it to be something a little longer lasting. Breach inhales chocolate like you inhale mangos...Maybe we could get her some clothes? Oh wait I don’t know her size…” Cesar pulled out a mobile phone.  
“We could invite her over?”  
“Uh...how would we stop people from freaking out over her arms? And I want it to be a surprise.” Six made his move. He flitted through the throng of people until he was close enough that they would hear him, but not so close that he was within arms reach of either of them.  
“Get her a hat.” Rex instantly grew tense, and Cesar stood up to put an arm between Rex and Six. Six raised an eyebrow as Rex sighed and put his forehead against the table.  
“Knew I should’ve worn a baseball cap…” The teen turned and looked at Six, swallowing thickly.  
“Hi Six.”

“I’m not here to take you anywhere. I have information you’ll want to hear.” Rex reached for his drink and Six saw his hand shake a little. He ignored it for the moment, If Rex was ever going to get over the image he had painted in his head of Six’s reaction to his trauma he had to prove he would treat him like he had before. It was obvious Rex was worried about that.  
“What is it?”  
“We’ve discovered who hired the scientists and who gave them access. Dr Fell harboured a grudge against you and kept in contact with a low level grunt until he perfected a drug that temporarily disables your nanites. We’ve found both Dr Fell, the grunt and the drug.” Cesar’s eyes sharpened to an almost predatory glint.  
“And the drug? It is destroyed?” Six nodded.  
“I burned it myself.” He couldn’t stop the bite of dark satisfaction he’d had doing it coming through.  
“And this ‘Dr’ Fell?”  
“Cesar you don’t have to take revenge for me. I just want this to be over so I can move on.” Cesar turned back to Rex.  
“I know mijo but I want him to pay!” Rex gave Cesar a tired smile.  
“I know you do just...don’t torture him? I don’t want you sinking to his level because of me…” Cesar put his hands on Rex’s shoulders.  
“Okay Hermano.”

“Fell is being held in our high security wing at HQ. White has already had him stripped of all titles, holdings and rights, we’re just waiting for the go ahead to execute him” Cesar sat back down. Rex swallowed thickly but nodded.  
“The grunt has been fired and sent to Guantanamo bay prison.” Rex sighed and gripped his drink so hard he squashed the card cup.  
“But there will always be more like them won’t there? More people who just see me as an EVO to use, someone to blame for all that went wrong in their life. Providence is full of those kind of people, and now they know I can be hurt this badly it’ll happen again.” Rex took a shuddering breath, eyes closed as some old haunt cropped up.  
“Providence is not safe for you. You seem to have found something in Abysus, I would suggest you keep it.” Rex stared at him, wide eyed and disbelieving.  
“But You keep your comlink this time. Your girlfriend can get you to situations faster than any Providence jet.” A fierce blush spread across Rex’s face and he hid it in his hands at Six’s smirk. Cesar chuckled.  
“You said something about a hat?”


End file.
